Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands1
Claudia BOSHOUWERS
Introduction For the study of pre-Christian religious practices and beliefs in north- ern Europe, toponyms can be an invaluable source of information. Scandinavian scholars have long been aware of this fact and have dedicated many articles and books to the subject.2 In addition to place- names with heathen connotations pointing archaeologists to possible sites worth excavating, purely philological studies of the names have also proven very fruitful. They have shown us which deities from Norse mythology actually received public worship and where they were worshipped: not just in what types of locations, but also in which parts of Scandinavia (Brink 2007, p. 105-136). Sometimes this has led to new insights on the role and significance of these deities (Brink 2007, pp. 115-116). Studying the distribution of cultic place-names has also given us insight into the social and political dimensions of pagan cult practice (Brink 2008, p. 63-65). Thus place-names are a true gold-mine of information on pre-Christian beliefs and practices in Scandinavia. Scandinavia is not the only part of Europe where echoes of Ger- manic heathendom remain in place-names. Germany, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands also preserve memories of pre-Christian beliefs in some of their toponyms. Yet these are far fewer in number, and in comparison to Scandinavia precious little research into them has been done.
1 I would like to thank dr. Per Vikstrand, prof. dr. Stefan Brink, Buddy Laming, Anouk Nuyten, Guus van Loon, prof. Rob Rentenaar and Kees Samplonius for their help in making this article possible. 2 Some important researchers in this field have been Magnus Fredrik Lundgren, Oluf Rygh, Johannes Steenstrup, Magnus Olsen, Elias Wessén, Thorsten Andersson, Lars Hellberg, Per Vikstrand, John Kousgård Sørensen, Jørn Sandnes, Bente Holm- berg, Stefan Brink, and many others.
Onoma 48 (2013), 37-57. doi: 10.2143/ONO.48.0.3223613. © Onoma. All rights reserved. 38 Claudia Boshouwers
Most abundant among these is Britain, both in terms of the attested number of pagan place-names and in the amount of research that has been done. The first to venture bravely into this—in his time—virtually unchartered territory was John Kemble, who published a list of place- names he thought to be derived from gods’ names in a book from 1849 (Wilson 1985, p. 179). He was followed by scholars such as Ernst Philippson, Bruce Dickins, Eilert Ekwall and Sir Frank Stenton, who in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s devoted much time to the collecting and discussing of place-names which they felt preserved evidence of Brit- ain’s pagan Anglo-Saxon past (Wilson 1985, p. 179; Gelling 1978, p. 158). Their work was quite extensive and few new names have been added to the corpus since that time (Wilson 1985, p. 179; Gelling 1978, p. 158). Indeed, much of the work done by later scholars has consisted of weeding out names that Philipsson, Dickins, Ekwall and Stenton mistakingly believed to refer to pagan beliefs and practices (Wilson 1985, p. 179; Gelling 1962, pp. 7-25; Gelling 1973, pp. 109-128). Prob- ably the most important scholar to contribute to this process and to more recent discussion and investigations is Margaret Gelling, who has con- cluded that a total of forty-three English place-names containing refer- ences to Anglo-Saxon paganism can be securely identified (Gelling 1978, p. 158). The theophoric names in Britain refer to the gods Wōden, Thunor and Tīw (Gelling 1962, pp. 10-15), and perhaps to the goddess Frig (Gelling 1962, p. 19). A second category of Anglo-Saxon sacral place-names are those containing an Old English word for ‘pagan sanc- tuary’, either hearg or wēoh, wīh. These can occur as a simplex (as in Harrow and Wye) or compounded with a second element, which denotes a location (Gelling 1962, pp. 8-9). Crossovers of these two categories do not occur, that is, neither hearg nor wēoh/wīh is ever combined with the name of a deity (Gelling 1962, pp. 8-9). The most frequently occur- ring second elements in Anglo-Saxon sacral place-names are ‑lēah ‘wood’ or ‘grove’, words denoting a high place or mound, such as ‑beorg, ‑dūn, ‑hlæw or ‑hōh, and ‑feld ‘field’ (Gelling 1962, p. 15). Various other scholars have made closer studies of the specific elements which occur in Anglo-Saxon pagan place-names (see for instance Meaney 1966; Wilson 1985; Hall 2006; Semple 2007). For Germany, perhaps the most important researcher has been Wolfgang Laur, who wrote several works on theophoric and cultic place-names in Germany (Laur 1949, 1954a, 1954b, 1986, 2001). Another important scholar was Adolf Bach, who treated the subject in Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 39 his Deutsche Namenkunde 2, 1 (1954). Jan de Vries furthermore listed some 16 names in the second volume of his Altgermanische Religion- sgeschichte and briefly touched upon these in various chapters (de Vries 1970, pp. 475-479, §33, §176, §245, §352, §371, §417, §452, §481, §486). Moving to the Dutch-speaking area, only a few scholars have actu- ally seriously concerned themselves with the subject. Jan de Vries pub- lished an article on two perceived pagan place-names, Franeker and Vroonlo, in 1932 (de Vries 1932), and included some place-names in the Netherlands he thought to be pagan in his Altgermanische Religion- sgeschichte (de Vries 1970, pp. 475-9, §345, §351, §371, §450). J.A. Huisman published an article in 1974 on two place-names in the province of Limburg, which he believed to have been Germanic cult sites (Huisman 1974). The most recent and most extensive work is an article published by Arend Quak in 2002 on ‘Germanic sacral place- names in the Low Countries’ (Quak 2002). He takes up most of the names mentioned in de Vries’ works, and has a fair number to add to the list. Some non-philologists have dealt with the subject too, and have made further attempts to identify pagan toponyms in the Netherlands. One of these is archaeologist and historian Judith Schuyf, who in her book on visible remnants of the pre-Christian past in the Netherlands mentions some toponyms (mostly names of hills), which she believes to refer to Germanic gods and heathen practices (Schuyf 1995, pp. 40, 41, 56, 57, 65). However, many of her finds are based on local legends and folk etymologies, which, together with her own obvious eagerness to find such remainders of heathen beliefs and practices, makes it dif- ficult to asses how trustworthy they are. Moreover, she offers no older attestations for any of the names she identifies as being pagan. Still, some of them may be interesting. As none of the researchers mentioned have written in English, information on Dutch pagan place-names has thus far only been avail- able to those who can read Dutch or (to some extent) German. One of the aims of this article is therefore to make the material more accessible to those outside the Low Countries. It also aims to present and assess some of the research done thus far and to suggest some new avenues for further research into pagan place-names in the Netherlands. As elsewhere, the pagan place-names in the Netherlands come in two kinds: compound place-names with the name of a deity or 40 Claudia Boshouwers
supernatural being as their first element, and place-names indicating the former existence of a pagan cultic location or building, but without any reference to a specific deity. Unlike in Scandinavia, the former type is decidedly rare in the Dutch-speaking area. This is probably due to the much earlier Christianization of the Netherlands and Belgium and the greater fanaticism with which their inhabitants were brought to the new faith (Quak 2002, pp. 59, 69). Nevertheless, well-established toponyms are hard to get rid of, and so the Church was unable to wipe out all toponymic remnants of pre-Christian religion in the Low Countries, leaving some heathen place-names for us to study.
Theophoric place-names Not a single uncontested place-name containing the name of an indi- vidual pagan deity remains in the Netherlands, for the only name Quak accepts as being without a doubt theophoric is Donderslag in Bel- gium. This name is thought to be a compound of Donar, the West- Germanic equivalent of Thór, with an Old Dutch ‑lô, ‘(clearing in a) forest, grove’ < Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (Orel 2003, pp. 238-239), which Quak believes may have had specific cultic connotations. He compares it to its Latin cognate lūcus ‘clearing in a forest, forest ded- icated to a deity, forest (poetic)’, and notes moreover that in Old High German glosses, lôh is used almost exclusively to mean ‘sacred forest’ (Quak 2002, p. 60). The name thus corresponds closely to Scandina- vian Torslunda and would have meant ‘Donar’s (sacred) grove’. It also has exact parallels in England, where names deriving from *Thunres-lēah ‘Thunor’s sacred grove’ are attested six times (Gelling 1973, pp. 121-122). Also found in Belgium, as well as once in France (but all in areas that used to be Dutch-speaking), are three names going back on older Anslar < Germ. *ansu- ‘deity’ with Germ. *hlǣri, a word meaning ‘swampy forested area’: Anlier (Belgium), Asselier (Belgium) and Aulers (France) (Quak 2002, p. 61). These names are thus not dedi- cated to one specific deity, but rather to the entire pantheon. This occurs in the other Germanic countries as well, for instance Åsum in Sweden and Denmark,3 Oslo in Norway, and Aβlar in Germany (Green
3 Åsum is, however, usually interpreted as dative plural of the word ås ‘ridge’, see e.g. Holmberg 1992, pp. 243-244. Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 41
1998, p. 25). Other than these, no certain examples of place-names referring to pagan deities can be found in the (former) Dutch-speaking area. Some other names might qualify however. One of these is Woensel, which was first attested as Gunsela in a charter from 1107 (Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 405). Other spellings attested during the 11th and 12th centuries are Woencele, Wonsele, Gunsella, Wnsela and Woncele (Korthorst & Nollen 2008, p. 15; Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 405; Gysseling 1960, p. 1086). As it bears an obvious resemblance to the Dutch name for the fourth day of the week, woensdag, which is named after the god Wodan (de Vries 1970:2, §361), it seems reasonable to consider an etymology that also goes back on the name of this deity. This has indeed been the proposition made by D.P. Blok and R. Rentenaar: they believe the name goes back on *Wodans lô, ‘Wodan’s forest’ (Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 405; Rentenaar 1990, pp. 56-57). The
4 See entry lō in Oudnederlands woordenboek, online via De Geïntegreerde Taal- bank at http://gtb.inl.nl/. 42 Claudia Boshouwers pagan god’s name, we do seem to be dealing with a sacral place-name here. Quak in his article has a different etymology (Quak 2002, pp. 60-61). He reconstructs the second element of the name not as ‑lô, but as ‑seli, a by-form of Old Dutch sala ‘hall, dwelling’ found spe- cifically in place-names.5 The Scandinavian cognate of this word, salr, can denote a cultic site, and place-names in Scandinavia with Odin as first element compounded with ‑salr are attested (Vikstrand 2002, p. 124; Brink 2008, p. 65). In a Dutch context, however, the word seems strictly secular,6 and since it is unusual for a theophoric place- name to have a human habitative element as its second part (Gelling 1973, p. 115; Vikstrand 2002, p. 128), Quak finds it difficult to believe the name Woensel actually refers to the deity (Quak 2002, pp. 60-61). He prefers reconstructing the first part of the name as simply a male personal name beginning in *Wod- instead. However, since place- names consisting of Wodan’s Scandinavian counterpart Odin as a first element and ‑salr as second element provide us with an exact parallel in the north, a sacral interpretation of Woensel does not seem unrea- sonable. Regardless of whether its second element is ‑lô or ‑seli, Woensel is probably indeed a theophoric place-name. Another candidate is Woensdrecht. Older attestations of this town’s name are Wunsdrech (1249), Wonsdrech (1261) and Ghons- drecht (1298) (Quak 2002, 61). Therefore, as with Woensel, the first part of this name looks like it might go back on *Wodans-. The second element, however, an Old Dutch element ‑dreht that Quak translates as ‘ford, shallow passage way in a stream or river’ (Quak 2002, p. 61),7 is what makes him reluctant to view it as a theophoric place- name. This element is not found in connection with the name Wodan/ Odin in place-names from either Scandinavia, Germany or Britain (Quak 2002, p. 61), although Odensfors ‘Odin’s rapid/stream’ occurs twice in Sweden (Brink 2007, pp. 113, 129). As with Woensel, he therefore thinks it more likely that the name instead refers to a pro- minent member of the local community whose name began in Wod- (Quak 2002, p. 61). This view was also voiced by W. van Osta (1996), who moreover argues for a different etymology for the element
5 See entry sala, seli in Oudnederlands woordenboek online. 6 Idem. 7 See also entry dreht in Oudnederlands woordenboek online. Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 43
‑drecht. Although drecht has often been thought to be the same ele- ment as ‑trecht and -tricht in such names as Utrecht and Maastricht, i.e. < Lat. traiectum ‘shallow passage in a body of water’, van Osta instead sees drecht as distinct from ‑trecht and ‑tricht, and believes it to go back on the Old Dutch verb dregan, dragan, in its original meaning of ‘to drag’. He believes place-names containing drecht (as part of a compound name or as a simplex) refer to places where ships and boats were dragged overland because local waterways did not allow sailing or rowing. If this etymology of the element drecht is correct it seems very unlikely that the first element in Woensdrecht refers to the god Wodan, who has no specific connection to ships or water. Van Osta therefore also prefers a secular personal name as the first element, something that seems to occur in drecht names quite often (van Osta 1996, pp. 64-71). He makes a strong case for his ety- mology of drecht, and a non-theophoric explanation for Woendrecht is therefore the most likely. Usselo, found as Oslo in 1188, Ussele in 1383 and Ossel in 1449, might be a compound of the two elements we have seen before: Germ. *ansu ‘deity’ and Old Dutch *lô ‘(clearing in a) (holy) forest’. Quak, however, expresses doubts about such an etymology because the first element would have to be the North-Sea-Germanic form of *ansu, which seems strange as far inland as Overijssel (the province in which this town is found). A better explanation may be that the first element is actually Old Dutch *ohso, Middle Dutch osse, ‘ox’, and the name thus the Dutch equivalent of English Oxley, ‘forest of oxen, forest where oxen dwell’ (Quak 2002, p. 61; van Osta 2001, pp. 157-158). Quak also wonders whether Dutch Alfen (earliest attestation Alf- heim in 709) and Alfberg (attested in the 10th and 12th centuries) (Kün- zel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 60) denote sanctuaries dedicated to elves. He doubts Alfen mostly because he follows Margaret Gelling in saying that sacral place-names usually do not contain a human habita- tive element such as ‑heim (Quak 2002, pp. 60, 62; Gelling 1973, p. 115). Yet as we have seen, names going back to *ansu-hem, thus referring to the collective of gods, might exist in Scandinavia (Vikstrand 2002, p. 128; Green 1998, p. 25). Still, both Alfhem and Alfberg could also simply denote places where elves were thought to dwell rather than sanctuaries in honour of these creatures. Jan de Vries wanted to see in Ermelo (older attestations Irminlo [855], Yrmilo [960], Hermelo [1028], Irmelo [1050], and so forth 44 Claudia Boshouwers
(Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 133)) a forest dedicated to a god Irmin, which he believed to be a by-name of the Germanic god *Tiwaz, who is known in Norse mythology as Týr (de Vries 1932, pp. 117- 118; de Vries 1970, pp. 14-16). However, most scholars nowadays do not believe that this Irmin- (also attested in the famous Irminsûl of the Saxons (Simek 1993, pp. 175-176)) was actually the name of a deity, but rather an adjective meaning either ‘high, elevated’ (Quak 2002, p. 67) or ‘gigantic’ (Simek 1993, p. 175). As discussed above, -lô is a frequent element in Dutch place-names and although a sacral inter- pretation ‘holy grove/forest’ has been suggested, it probably does not have specific religious meaning in itself. Ermelo could therefore sim- ply mean ‘forest situated in an elevated place’ or ‘very large forest’. Admittedly, this may still have sacral meaning (Quak 2002, p. 67), but there seems no way of knowing for sure. De Vries has also argued for two place-names situated in the far north of the Netherlands, Franeker (<*Frôn-ackar) and Vroonlo (<*Frôn-lô), being theophoric (de Vries 1932, pp. 97-121). He believes that the first element in these names refer to a West-Germanic equiv- alent of North-Germanic god Freyr, to be named Frô. De Vries’ argu- ment was based primarely on the linguistic relatedness between what seems to be the first element of the name, Old Dutch frô, ‘lord’, and the North-Germanic god name Freyr, which literally means ‘lord’ and may in fact have been a byname or title of a god who was originally named Yngvi (Turville-Petre 1964, p. 169). He saw in Franeker more- over parallels with theophoric place-names built up with a second element -ak(i)r/åker/ager found in Scandinavia, and thus concluded that in Franeker, we must have a direct parallel to such names as Swedish Frösåker, ‘cultivated land dedicated to Freyr’ (de Vries 1932, p. 106). It is highly doubtful however that there ever was such a god in the Low Countries, as there is no other evidence of him, and there- fore a more worldly interpretation seems preferable (Green 1998, p. 25). A convincing explanation is that Franeker was actually named after the frana, a representative of the bishop of Utrecht in medieval Frisia, who helped him maintain order and acted out the less savoury actions deemed necessary to rule over a large area (Gildemacher 2007, pp. 81-82). Quak leaves some room for Vroonlo to be regarded as theophoric, given the possible cultic connotations of the word ‑lô (see above) (Quak 2002, p. 68). I believe however we can disregard the possibility Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 45 of this place-name being theophoric as well, since frôn- is in fact the genitive plural form of Old Dutch frô-,8 not the genitive singular. Thus it cannot refer to a single deity named Frô, but must, in that case, refer to multiple lords. It is perhaps possible that ‘lords’ here refers to mul- tiple pagan gods, but it seems far more likely that the name refers to wordly lords who (perhaps consecutively) possessed the forest that Vroonlo was later named after.
Toponyms denoting pagan sanctuaries More examples can be found of non-theophoric pagan place-names in the Netherlands, that is, place-names which do not contain the names of deities, but which do denote former pagan sanctuaries or cultic locations. Two place-names in the Netherlands can be securely said to go back to Germanic *har(u)g ‘sanctuary’. These are Harich in Frisia, attested from 1132 onwards, and Hargen in Noord-Holland, first attested Horgana in 822 (Quak 2002, p. 65). Two other toponyms Har(e)ga, situated very closely to one another in Zuid-Holland and most likely connected (as one is the name of a stream once running there and the other is the name of a nearby village), appear to go back on this same element, as does another Harich, the name of a terp in Frisia mentioned in a sixteenth century source (Gildemacher 2007, pp. 96-97). But as both instances of Har(e)ga in Zuid-Holland seem to refer to the stream and nothing is known of a pile of rocks (the usual interpretation for the original meaning of Germ. *har(u)g (Brink 2008, p. 65)) or a pagan altar, Quak suggests for these names an ety- mological connection with latin carcer ‘enclosure’ rather than Germ. *har(u)g (Quak 2002, p. 66). As is usual also in Scandinavia (Vikstrand 2002, pp. 134-135; Brink 2008, p. 65), the element *har(u)g thus only occurs as a simplex in the Dutch language area, and is not attested with the name of a deity connected to it. A second element denoting a pagan Germanic sanctuary that we find in the Netherlands goes back on Germ. *wîha ‘sanctuary, sacred place’, which appears in Scandinavian place-names as vi/vé/væ (Andersson 1992, pp. 527-528; Vikstrand 2002, pp. 129-130; Brink
8 See entry vroon in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, online via De Geïnte- greerde Taalbank at http://gtb.inl.nl/. 46 Claudia Boshouwers
2008, p. 63). In the Netherlands, it occurs four times in older sources, and three of these place-names remain today: Wehe-Den Hoorn in Groningen, Wijhe in Overijssel, and Wijchen in Gelderland (Quak 2002, p. 66; Van Berkel & Samplonius, p. 487, 499). Now lost is a name attested as UUia in 850 (Quak 2002, p. 66), although it seems to have been retained in the name of a nearby castle, Wijenburg (Van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 115). Just like *har(u)g, the element *wîha only occurs as a simplex in the Dutch language area. Quak further remarks that it is interesting that neither of these names occurs in the southern parts of the Dutch language area; all are found in the west and north, closer to the sea. There are a number of Dutch place-names with a first element which Maurits Gysseling believed to go back on Proto-Germanic *al(a)h, a word he translates as ‘pagan sanctuary’. These are Aalburg, Alem, three instances of Aalst, and Elst (Gysseling 1960, p. 32-33, 45, 314). It has often been thought that Germ. *al(a)h must mean the same as its Gothic descendant alhs, i.e. ‘temple’ or ‘sanctuary’, and that names containing this element are thus sacral toponyms referring to pagan sanctuaries (Brink 1992, pp. 119-120; Laur 2001, pp. 42-43; Vikstrand 2004, pp. 170-171; see Bach 1954, p. 409; Gysseling 1960, pp. 32-33, 45, 314).9 Quak suggests an etymology of *alhust- for Aalst and *alhist- for Elst, both derivations of this word meaning ‘temple’, meaning ‘living place near the temple’ (Quak 2002, p. 63). Elst in fact is known to have been the site of two important temples in the Gallo- Roman period (Schuyf 1995, p. 13; Blok 1974, p. 64). Blok, however, argues that the names Aalst and Elst occur so often in the south and middle of the Low Countries that it is unlikely they all refer to pagan sanctuaries and safer to assume a secular meaning of ‘dwelling’ for *alhaz < *al(a)h (Blok 1974, p. 64). This is possible because *al(a)h is derived from an Indo-European root *aleq, ‘to shelter, to protect’, and thus originally meant something like ‘sheltered place, enclosure’ (Laur 2001, pp. 42-43). From there it has come to mean ‘temple’ in Gothic, but it may well have stood for almost any type of enclosure or human dwelling in the other Germanic languages, and not neces- sarily one with cultic connotations. Debrabandere (2010) does not
9 It must be said that -al or al- in Germanic place-names is often riddled with dif- ficulties, as it may have several different etymological origins (see for instance Quak 2002, p. 64; Vikstrand 2004, pp. 170-171). Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 47 think either Aalst or Elst has anything to do with *al(a)h at all. Instead he suggests for Aalst an etymology going back on *aloks, ‘worm- wood’, and for Elst one that relates the name with els, ‘alder’ (Debra- bandere 2010, pp. 23, 77), although he leaves some room for the pos- sibility that Aalst might be derrived from *al(a)h. Following his etymologies, Aalst and Elst would mean ‘place where wormwood grows’ and ‘place where alders grow’, respectively. For Aalsmeer (as well as the Belgian place-names Elmare, Aal- beke and Aalschoot) Gysseling believed the first element goes back on another Germanic element *al(a)h, but that in these cases it is the Old Dutch word for ‘elk’ rather than a denotation of a temple (Gys- seling 1960, p. 32, 313). Quak, however, notes that the name of this animal should probably be reconstructed as *elo for Old Dutch (Quak 2002, p. 63-64). Furthermore, he objects to Gysseling’s criteria for determining which names contain *alha ‘temple’ and which have this supposed *alha ‘elk’: Gysseling chooses ‘elk’ when the second ele- ment denotes a natural feature, and ‘temple’ when the name denotes a human settlement. Yet most researchers prefer to interpret the non- habitative names as sacral rather than the other way around (Quak 2002, p. 64). Following this principle, Aalburg (< *alah + burch ‘for- tification’) and Alem (< *alah + heim ‘settlement, dwelling’) would have to be ruled out as being cultic names. However, the element heim is actually well attested in sacral place-names, and *alah-heim would have good parallels in Scandinavian names such as Vihem (< *wīhaz + heim) and Gudhem (Vikstrand 2002, p. 128). Similarly, the Scandi- navian equivalent of burch is borg, which is attested in several sacral place-names, such as Torsburgen and Viborg.10 This makes both Aal- burg and Alem good candidates for a sacral interpretation as well, and shows us that words for human settlements do occur as second ele- ments of sacral place-names. Van Berkel and Samplonius (2006, p. 15) prefer to reconstruct the first element of Aalsmeer as a personal name Al or as als, an alternate form of the tree-name els ‘alder’, and thus do not assume a cultic meaning (van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 15). In short, the names Gysseling thought to contain the element *alah denoting a pagan sanctuary are problematic in that there are other plausible etymologies and interpretations for them. However,
10 I am grateful to Dr. Vikstrand for pointing these names out to me. 48 Claudia Boshouwers because of their parallelism to Scandinavian sacral place-names, Alem and Aalburg seem to be good candidates for sacral interpretation. Finally, Heilo is a town in Noord-Holland whose name unques- tionably goes back to *heilig-lô ‘holy grove’ as evidenced by older attestations: cf. Heilinglo, Heilegenlo, Heiligelo (all 11th century attes- tations, some going back to earlier sources), and so forth (Blok 1974, p. 63; Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 171). It is thought to have been a site of pagan cult, possibly surrounding a well which is now dedicated to Saint Willibrord, an important missionary for the Low Countries (Schuyf 1995, pp. 71-73).
Further suggestions Woezik The earliest attestation of this town is Wonseke in 1196 (Künzel, Blok & Verhoeff 1989, p. 406). It is tempting to see in this a theophoric place-name, as it seems it might go back on *Wodans eke ‘Wodan’s oak’, as Schuyf (1995, p. 40) suggests. If that is the correct etymology, it would moreover have an almost direct parallel in a place-name attested twice in Sweden, namely Odensicke and Onsike, both from *Oþens-eke, ‘Óðinn’s oak grove’ (Brink 2007, p. 129). We know of oaks that were sacred and dedicated to Wodan in the early Middle Ages (Schuyf 1995, p. 15). Moreover, several place-names in the (for- merly) Dutch-speaking area go back on Old Dutch *eki, meaning ‘oak grove’,11 which is even more tempting to postulate as the second ele- ment of Woezik if one wanted to see in this name a reference to Wodan, as that would give us a direct parallel to the Scandinavian names. However, the element -eke in Dutch place-names can also go back on Gallo-Roman ‑iacum ‘land possessed by someone’ (Moerman 1956, pp. 5-6). Thus we find place-names in which this element has been attached to a Gallo-Roman personal name in Blerick <*Blaria- cum, Gellik <*Galliacum, Kemzeke <*Camasiacum and Wervik <*Wiroviacum (Gysseling 1960, pp. 151, 392, 558, 1063). It is pos- sible then that Woezik belongs to this same category and has nothing to do with an oak dedicated to Wodan, but instead refers to a person
11 Examples are Aldeneik, Bergeijk, and Maaseik in the Netherlands, Eke in Bel- gium and another instance of Eke in northern France. See entry eki in Oudneder- lands woordenboek online. Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 49
(perhaps named Wunso), who once possessed the surrounding land (van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 508). Alternatively, van Berkel and Samplonius suggest Wonseke might be a misspelling, and the name might go back on a Middle Dutch word for ‘mud’, woese (van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 508). The second element might then be the aforementioned Old Dutch *eki, and the name thus mean ‘muddy oak grove’. So even though an explanation of Woezik as ‘oak (grove) dedicated to Wodan’ seems possible, there are several other plausible etymologies, such as ‘land possessed by Wunso’ or ‘muddy oak grove’.
Wanssum The oldest attestation of this town is as Wansem in 1359 (van den Bergh 1872, p. 253). J.A. Huisman has reconstructed this name as *Wodans heim, ‘Wodans dwelling’, and concluded this must once have been a cult place for Wodan (Huisman 1974, pp. 105-120). Yet the problem is that ‑heim, being a word for a human dwelling, nor- mally does not occur in theophoric place-names (Vikstrand 2002, p. 128). Therefore it seems more likely that, as is the case with Woens- drecht, this place-name actually contains a reference to a prominent local figure rather than the god of the Germanic pantheon, and that the first element is a male personal name, probably Wando or Wanso (van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 481).
Pagan hills? In her survey of the remnants of the pagan beliefs of old in the Neth- erlands, Judith Schuyf lists a number of hills which she thinks were named after pagan deities (Schuyf 1995, pp. 56-57). Among these are the Woensberg in Noord-Holland, two hills now named Godsberg (both in the province of Gelderland), one Goudsberg in Gelderland, and a Goudberg in the province of Drenthe. In her view these are all named after the god Wodan. Similarly, there are six locations in the Netherlands named Donderberg, which Schuyf believes to be hills originally named after the god Donar. Finally, Schuyf sees in the Hels- berg near Rheden a reference to the goddess Hel, in Scandinavian mythology the goddess presiding over the Underworld (Simek 1993, p. 138). Although some scholars have expressed doubt that Hel was a 50 Claudia Boshouwers genuine Germanic goddess and think she may have been a creation of Christian writers (Simek 1993, pp. 137-138), there are place-names on the Faroe Islands and in Denmark thought to refer to this goddess (Vikstrand 2013). The s-genitive, however, rules out such an interpre- tation for Helsberg as it would not be found with a feminine noun or name. One possibility is that Hel- in fact refers to the place of torment and punishment envisioned by Christians as the dwelling place of the Devil, and should be grouped together with the many Duivelsbergen we also find as names for prehistoric grave hills in the Netherlands, a name given to these hills out of the Christians’ dislike of the pagan religion (Schuyf 1995, pp. 65-67). Finally, it is possible that its first element is the (male) personal name Hel(e)- or Helle-, a name also attested in Heelsum (Van Berkel & Samplonius 2006, p. 178). The name Helsberg would then mean ‘hill belonging to Hel(le)’. For Donderberg, in addition to their names bearing an obvious resemblance to donderdag, Schuyf uses as an argument that several of these Donderbergen are prehistoric grave hills and that they are all situated in areas where archaeological research has revealed evidence of intense prehistoric habitation and activity, particularly burial prac- tices (Schuyf 1995, p. 56). One can thus understand her keenness to see in their names a reference to the Germanic god of thunder. If that is the case, the names would have to go back on *Donars-berg. The main problem one would need to account for with such an etymology is the lack of a genitive ‑s‑. This seems to not speak in favour of an etymology *Donars-berg, but rather of *donar-berg, ‘thunder mount’.12 Yet one may in this connection indeed point to the Dutch name for the fifth day of the week, donderdag, which we know must be named after Donar, as it replaces the name of Jupiter in the Roman theophoric week, just as has been done in the other Germanic lan- guages (de Vries 1970, §415). It seems then, that whatever mechanism caused the genitive ‑s- to be lost in donderdag (perhaps confusion over the true meaning of the first element, or perhaps a deliberate attempt to avoid association with the pagan deity) may have worked on the name Donderberg as well. Woensberg contains the same first element as perhaps Woensel (which, as we saw, is possibly theophoric) and as woensdag (which
12 In Old Dutch the name for the god of thunder and for the weather phenomenon itself were identical (see entry donder in Philippa et. al., 2003-2009). Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 51 definitely refers to Wodan), and may thus have been named after the Germanic god. Its second element, -berg, denotes a hill or mountain, popular sites for worship among the early Germanic people (de Vries 1970, §245), and well attested in theophoric place-names in Scandi- navia and Britain (de Vries 1970, §245). Therefore an interpretation as *Wodans-berg seems reasonable for this name. Schuyf’s interpretations of the names Godsberg, Goudsberg and Goudberg are less straightforward. If they are named after Wodan, they must also go back on *Wodans-berg. Yet one would expect *Wodans- in *Wodans-berg to have undergone the same phonological developments that gave Dutch woensdag from *Wodans-dag, and thus give Woensberg (as the example above), or perhaps Goensberg, if the initial W- was replaced by G- to obscure the connection to Wodan as we have seen done in Bad Godesberg. The three names discussed here, however, present us with some problems, as they do not have the diphthong
Conclusion As we have seen, there are indeed some pre-Christian sacral toponyms in the Netherlands, but unsurprisingly, not nearly as many as in Scan- dinavia. This meagre corpus is probably due to the early and thorough conversion to Christianity of the Low Countries. Nevertheless, the pre- served names highlight important aspects of the pre-Christian believes and should be included in all discussions of the Netherlands’ pagan past. Little research has been done into the sacral toponyms that do remain. What has been done tells us that place-names containing the names of Germanic deities are decidedly rare in the Netherlands, and that the only gods ever attested in these toponyms seem to be Wodan and Donar. If the scant toponymic material we have is a good indica- tion, forests and hill tops seem to have been popular places of worship in the Low Countries. We also find relatively many instances of names seemingly going back on Germ. *al(a)h, often thought to denote a cultic site, but the correct interpretation and exact meaning of this ele- ment are hard to determine, and it is therefore not clear if these names actually refer to pagan sanctuaries. The sacral denotations *har(u)g and *wiha are found in the Dutch speaking area as well, yet as in Britain, these never have the name of a deity attached. Some other pagan toponyms may remain, sometimes in an obscured form, in the names of local landscape features. These are intruiguing, but it is difficult to assess their exact background and etymology. Still, future researchers might want to look more closely Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 53 at just these types of toponyms, the kind that Judith Schuyf has tried to collect in her book: the local hills, fields, and forests which folklore and legend connect to a pagan past. Solid philological analysis, com- bined perhaps with archaeological research, may then help us find out whether names such as Godsberg and Donderberg really do refer to gods like Wodan and Donar, and possibly reveal new pagan topo- nyms, thus adding to our knowledge of pre-Christian beliefs and prac- tices in the Netherlands. Finally, it would be interesting to see if there is any significance in the fact that the *har(u)g and *wiha names in the Netherlands are found with a very distinct geographical distribu- tion, lacking altogether in the more southern parts of the country.
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Claudia Boshouwers Utrecht University/University of Aberdeen [email protected] Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands 57
Résumé : Des noms de lieux païens aux Pays-Bas Pour étudier les pratiques et les croyances préchrétiennes dans le nord de l’Europe, les toponymes peuvent se révéler une source inestimable d’informa- tion. En Scandinavie, le fait est reconnu depuis longtemps et de nombreux chercheurs ont travaillé sur un matériel toponymique païen abondant. Aux Pays-Bas cependant, bien que des toponymes existent reflétant le passé cultuel païen, ils n’ont que peu été étudiés jusqu’ici. Cert article présente, pour la première fois, le matériel toponymique païen en anglais afin de le rendre plus accessible à quiconque. Il présente et critique quelques travaux antérieurs, et suggère de nouvelles pistes pour de futures recherches sur la toponymie d’ori- gine païenne aux Pays-Bas.
Summary: Pagan toponyms in the Netherlands For the study of pre-Christian religious practices and beliefs in northern Europe, toponyms can be an invaluable source of information. In Scandinavia, this has long been recognised and many scholars have busied themselves with its abundant pagan place-name material. In the Low Countries, however, very little research has been done into the remnants of pre-Christian religions found in the place-name material, although there too we find toponyms reflecting a pagan cultic past. This article presents the known pagan toponymic material in the Netherlands in English for the first time, making it more accessible to researchers outside the Low Countries. It presents and assesses some of the research done by various scholars thus far, and suggests some new avenues for further research into pagan place-names in the Netherlands.
Zusammenfassung: Sakrale Ortsnamen in die Niederlande Ortsnamen können für Untersuchungen der religiösen Praktiken und Überzeu- gungen im nördlichen Europa in vorchristlicher Zeit eine wertvolle Informa- tionsquelle sein. In Skandinavien wurde diese Tatsache bereits vor längerer Zeit erkannt und viele Forscher haben sich mit dem umfangreichen heidni- schen Ortsnamenmaterial auseinandergesetzt. In den Niederlanden wurden die Überbleibsel der vorchristlichen Religiönen in Ortsnamen unzureichend unter- sucht, obwohl wir auch dort Ortsnamen, welche die heidnisch-kultische Ver- gangenheit widerspiegeln, vorfinden. Der vorliegende Aufsatz präsentiert das bekannte heidnische Ortsnamenmaterial in den Niederlanden zum ersten Mal in englischer Sprache, um einen Zugang für Forscher außerhalb der Nieder- lande zu ermöglichen. Einige Studien, die bis dato vorliegen, werden vorge- stellt und bewertet, darüber hinaus werden Möglichkeiten für eine weitere Beschäftigung mit den heidnischen Ortsnamen in den Niederlanden aufge- zeigt.